


Healing

by ofdogsandwriting



Category: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Cartoon 2018), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Blood and Injury, Brotherly Love, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Injury Recovery, Self-Doubt, Treating injuries, don't be afraid to let me know if there needs to be additional tags
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-28
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:48:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27755644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ofdogsandwriting/pseuds/ofdogsandwriting
Summary: Leonardo feels he ruined everything, but he is the one picking up the pieces after.
Relationships: Donatello & Leonardo & Michelangelo & Raphael (TMNT), Donatello & Leonardo (TMNT), Leonardo & Michelangelo (TMNT), Leonardo & Raphael (TMNT)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 102





	Healing

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PenWoman](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PenWoman/gifts).



> This was a fic request from the lovely PenWoman, and I want to thank them so much for being so patient with me! It took forever to do this short fic because College and work have taken up %95 of my time. Writing this was a nice short break between school and work though. I hope you like it!
> 
> The request was for some medic Leonardo treating his brothers. It may or may not have turned out a little more angsty than intended.

A soft tune filled the void of the lair, starting from Michelangelo’s room and spreading outwards throughout the underground, filling the space with life and warmth. The sound eased the tension in Leonardo’s shoulders as he worked, fingers delicate in their process, applying salve in various places.

Leonardo leaned back, reaching into his pouch and removing band aids from it. He teared open at least nine of them, colors in bright neon and branded with Avengers or Disney Princesses, sticking them carefully onto his younger brother’s injuries. They were small, but his hands were subconsciously careful, a routine that his mind accustomed to. Leonardo had gotten the worst of Mikey’s wounds already.

Michelangelo’s humming had lowered to a soft rhythmic tune. His hands were wrapped around his ankles, knees on either side of him while his soles touched. He looked down from his bed at Leonardo with a grin.

Leonardo patted him on the shoulder. He could see through the wince Michelangelo tried to hide, perceptive despite what his brother’s may say sometimes. He was acutely aware of mannerisms and behaviors, able to predict situations and manipulate them in his own favor most of the time. This trait was amplified when it came to his brothers.

Yet, he had not pointed it out because Michelangelo would reply with assurances that he was fine, when he clearly was not. It was a conversation Leonardo would ask him about later, when his little brother would want to talk about it. Leo only grinned in return and acknowledged that Michelangelo would not want to dwell on it for the moment.

Instead, he tried not to think about Michelangelo’s smile crushed and crooked beneath blades and rubble, how he had nearly died, yet by some miracle, survived an impossible situation. Michelangelo had been incredibly lucky to live with only shallow scrapes and cuts.

“Thanks for patching me up, Leo!” Michelangelo tipped forward, casting a shadow over Leonardo as he leaned over the edge of the bed, nearly falling off from the imbalance. Somehow, Michelangelo is positive despite the circumstances.

Leonardo wondered if Michelangelo hid his doubts behind that smile just as much as he did.

“Hey, it’s no big deal,” Leonardo waved his hand dismissively, “your local cleric and sorcerer is always here to help.” He pointed to himself proudly and winked before grinning with confidence.

When Leonardo saw the expression on Mikey’s face shift subtly, a small furrow of the brow, he noticed something off about him.

Mikey’s eyes were trained elsewhere. The curves of his smile, blinding and vibrant, faded a fraction, a small downward shift, unnoticeable to anyone but his brothers, but they knew it meant something bad.

Leonardo’s wounds bled, bandaged hurriedly and without care, drops of blood slipped down his arm and out from under the makeshift bandage, drooped and loose, like stitches falling from their seams.

Unsettled by his stare, Leonardo spoke again behind a mask of confidence. “We really kicked their butts, huh?”

“Yeah!” Michelangelo agreed enthusiastically, but his eyes were still trained on Leonardo’s bicep where the bandages hung. His smile remained bright and bold, but for a long time, his eyes remained still.

Briefly, Leonardo wondered if Michelangelo thought the same as him, that they were more alike that he thought, that the same images played over and over in their heads.

Their minds were still tangled in that moment of life or death.

* * *

Donatello hissed and tried to pull his leg away, but Leo grabbed it with his free hand and held it in place. His eyes never wavered from his work as he kept a trained gaze on Donnie’s injury. “What’d I say about moving, Dee?”

Donatello rolled his eyes, shifting his uninjured leg on the cool, metal lab table beneath him. “Every second wasted here is another second letting the bad guys get away!”

Leonardo had been careful with Donnie, as his wounds were much more extensive. The injuries scattered all over in his leg with one deep gash, then various injuries moved upwards to his shoulder. Most of it was on his left side. The worst injury was above his left shoulder. The only response he gives to Donnie is an inattentive hum.

Donatello’s sigh only registered in the back of Leo’s mind as he focused on his injuries. He did not know how long he took, but it had been much stitching and bandaging before he got to Donnie’s shoulder.

Gingerly, he touched the area between Donatello’s shoulder and neck, just below the giant gash that cut into his soft shell. Donnie flinched instinctively. 

“You’re shell-“ Leo began, but Donnie cut him off before he could say anything else.

“It’s fine.”

Leonardo gave him a pointed look. “If fine is defined by “shredded by a wood chipper” then yes, absolutely,” he shot Donnie a teasing smile, although he did not have the heart in it. Really, if Leo had not been in the way to start with, maybe it could have been avoided.

It was just enough to make his brother feel better, he hoped, as Donatello quirked a faint smile in response, teasing a familiarity that they needed. “Scoff, that’s an over exaggeration.”

“Donnie, you need to let me fix this.” Carefully, he rested a hand below the injury. Donatello had insisted he was fine before and told him to help Mikey, but this injury was disconcerting.

Donatello met his gaze with a firm look, an unnatural silence settling between them.

After a few minutes, Donatello looked away with a sigh. His reply was a gesture with his right hand to get along with it.

Halfway through the bandaging and stilted conversation, Donnie assured him that his shell would be fine. It might just leave a scar.

“Hey, Leo,” Donnie started as he finished all of the bandaging, “my leg is in a lot of pain, I don’t think I could walk on it for a while. Would you be a darling brother and go grab some crutches for me? After my night of recovering I wish to study in the lab and hopefully keep tabs on our attackers so we can get them as soon as we’re out of this situation.” He laid back on his lab table dramatically, hefting another sigh with an arm laid over his eyes.

Despite this, Leo noticed the small blips on Donnie’s phone. He has already been tracking their assailants.

“Ah, of course, my liege, and would you care for a plate of steamed lobster?” Leo retorted sarcastically but made his way towards the door.

“Yes, that would be delightful!” Donatello called after him as he left. Leonardo only scoffed and smiled in response.

He made his way to a spare room where they kept various tools and supplies in storage. He spent a few minutes rummaging through the useless objects until he found the crutches tucked away behind a shelf.

With crutches in hand, Leo returned to Donatello. He stopped abruptly in the doorway when he saw his brother sitting upright on the lab table, Leonardo’s medical supplies spread out next to him. Donatello patted the spot on the other side of him. “Sit.” It was not an offer.

“As much as I’d like to play doctor with you, Dee, I have to go patch up Raph.” Leonardo moved to grab the gaze from Donnie first, but Donatello snatched it and leaned out of reach, holding it away with his good arm, using his injured one against Leonardo.

“Sit,” he pointed to the vacant spot. “Besides,” Donnie added, “I’m sure Raph would be sad about it if you didn’t take care of yourself first.”

* * *

“Is everyone else okay?” Raph asked worriedly as Leonardo spent his time bandaging the last of Raph’s injuries. “How’s Donnie?”

“Aside from being a royal pain about his needs, he’s doing okay. I gave him some meds, but you know how he gets on them sometimes.”

Raphael let out an airy chuckle. “Good to hear. And Mikey?”

“The princess band aids made his day, but you know he’s worse than Donnie when it comes to stir-crazy recovery.” Leonardo directed a reassuring grin at Raphael. “Everything’s gonna be okay, big guy, you don’t have to worry about anything, your bro Leo’s got it this all covered.” Leonardo patted him on the knee a few times where Raphael sat on his bed.

Of course, they all needed Leonardo, despite everything being his fault. If he had not insisted that they go after The Foot through a dangerous path that he thought would be safe, they would not be in this situation. Turns out The Foot had planned an ambush in an unstable building. 

Leonardo was never wrong, except he was wrong all the time.

“I’m glad,” there was a relief in Raphael’s eyes that made his guilt twist more, but Leo only grinned brighter. “I’m glad you fixed yourself up too. I kinda took the least damage.”

“Well, Donnie fixed me up, but yeah, we’re all good. We’ll be up again in no time and kicking bad guy butt. Those foot will be the ones getting the foot!”

Leonardo waited for Raphael to react with, well, anything, a laugh, exasperation, perhaps pity at his signature awful jokes.

Instead, the ridges of his brows furrowed, mask scrunching a bit at his thoughtful expression. “Leo,” he began in that voice that he used to baby the team.

Leonardo held up a hand to stop him.

“You don’t blame yourself, do you?” Raph pressed, voice no longer in that babied tone, but quiet and serious.

He did not know how, but despite Leo’s best efforts to hide his emotions, Raphael could sometimes just see right through his facade.

“What? I’m fine, obviously, if anyone is to blame, it’s clearly the bad guys, they got us into this mess!” He exclaimed defensively.

Raph did not respond negatively or positively and stared at him patiently, brows once again furrowed in thought.

Until finally, he said, “it’s okay, Leo.”

Those were the words that finally made his shoulders drop and lips quiver. He did not know if this had been Raph’s plan all along but it worked, Leo felt himself cracking under the pressure.

“How can it be okay when I messed something up so bad? Mikey almost died!” His hands shot out, gesturing how serious the situation had been.

“And how did you mess up?”

“I convinced everyone to go, and you trusted me- and it didn’t turn out as I planned. It’s always supposed to turn out as planned. Why didn’t it go as planned?! Maybe you’re right, you shouldn’t trust me.”

“I don’t think anything turns out as planned , Leo, something always ends up different, you know? Besides, none of it is your fault. We all decided to go with you because that’s what we do. Mad Dogs stick together. You’re smart, I’m starting to think you're smarter than you let on.” Leo was not sure if he should feel insulted that Raph questioned his intelligence before or or proud because he hid it well. “But you didn’t know, there was no way for sure. You can’t see into the future, no one can. Well, maybe Hypno can-“

Leonardo sighed.

“I want you to be the one to trust me this time, Leo.” Raph placed a hand on his shoulder. “Trust me when I say that it’s not your fault, you get me?”

Slowly, he nodded. “Yeah, okay, right- I believe you- whoa!” Raphael had stood and scooped him into a life-crushing hug. Leonardo hesitated, but eased into the embrace, responding with his own.

“Think we should get everybody and watch a movie? Maybe it’ll help Donnie and Mikey feel less trapped.” Raph smiled, gentle and with double meaning. Leonardo understood that it was an offer, an out of the conversation, or to keep moving forward with the feelings that he had a hard time expressing.

“Alright,” Leo replied with a sly smile, “but I get to pick the movie this time.”


End file.
